A telesync (TS) is a
bootleg recording of a
film recorded in a
movie theater
A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...
, often (although not always) filmed using a professional camera on a tripod in the projection booth. The audio of a TS is captured with a direct connection to the sound source (often an
FM microbroadcast
Microbroadcasting is the process of broadcasting a message to a relatively small audience. This is not to be confused with low-power broadcasting.
Microbroadcasting, in radio terms, is the use of low-power transmitters (often Title 47 CFR Part 1 ...
provided for the hearing-impaired, or from a
drive-in theater
A drive-in theater or drive-in cinema is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers can view mov ...
). If a direct connection from the sound source is not possible, sometimes the bootlegger will tape or conceal wireless microphones close to the speakers, as it is better than a mic on the camera. A TS can be considered a higher quality type of
cam
Calmodulin (CaM) (an abbreviation for calcium-modulated protein) is a multifunctional intermediate calcium-binding messenger protein expressed in all eukaryotic cells. It is an intracellular target of the secondary messenger Ca2+, and the bin ...
, that has the potential of better-quality audio and video.
The true definition of telesync would include the film being synchronized to the camera's own
frame rate
Frame rate (expressed in or FPS) is the frequency (rate) at which consecutive images ( frames) are captured or displayed. The term applies equally to film and video cameras, computer graphics, and motion capture systems. Frame rate may also ...
and shutter timing as done by television companies when preparing celluloid film for broadcast. A bootleg TS rarely, if ever, uses this form of synchronisation which can lead to additional temporal
aliasing
In signal processing and related disciplines, aliasing is an effect that causes different signals to become indistinguishable (or ''aliases'' of one another) when sampled. It also often refers to the distortion or artifact that results when ...
. Most cameras used to make modern telesyncs run at 24 frames per second, like the movie projectors, to reduce artifacts compared to the 60 field per second cameras of old.
As technology gets better, the quality of telesyncs also improves, although even the best telesyncs are
lossy
In information technology, lossy compression or irreversible compression is the class of data compression methods that uses inexact approximations and partial data discarding to represent the content. These techniques are used to reduce data size ...
and will be inferior in quality to direct rips from
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of s ...
,
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
or digital transfers from the film itself (see
telecine
Telecine ( or ) is the process of transferring film into video and is performed in a color suite. The term is also used to refer to the equipment used in the post-production process.
Telecine enables a motion picture, captured originally on ...
). Some
release groups use
high-definition video
High-definition video (HD video) is video of higher resolution and quality than standard-definition. While there is no standardized meaning for ''high-definition'', generally any video image with considerably more than 480 vertical scan lines ( ...
cameras to get the clearest picture possible.
When an unlicensed copy of a film exists even before its official publication, it is often because a telesync version could be easily produced.
In the German
warez scene
The Warez scene, often referred to as The Scene, is a worldwide, underground, organized network of pirate groups specializing in obtaining and illegally releasing digital media for free before their official sale date. The Scene distributes all fo ...
additional tags for the audio source can be added to a telesync release. These are LD (line dubbed) for when the audio track of an unlicensed copy has been ripped from the line out connection of a projector or MD (mic dubbed) when a microphone is used for the recording. These tags are not used exclusively on cam releases though.
See also
*
Coded anti-piracy
Coded anti-piracy (CAP) is an anti-copyright infringement technology which marks each film print of a motion picture with a distinguishing pattern of dots, used as a forensic identifier to identify the source of illegal copies.
They are not to b ...
*
Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, ...
*
Pirated movie release types
Pirated movie release types are the different types of pirated movies and television series that end up on the Internet. They vary wildly in rarity and quality due to the different sources and methods used for acquiring the video content, in addi ...
References
External links
Telesyncon Afterdawn
{{Forms of pirated film releases
Warez
Film and video technology